While Newsweek shows an admirable eagerness to improve itself, Time may already have achieved perfection--and not just by stealing Slate features and denaturing them into wan imitations but by being acutely attuned to today's demanding pre-teen reader. At Booker T. Washington Middle School 54, a New York public school, current events assignments are traditionally researched in the New York Times, tough going for most kids. Recently, some 11-year-olds were introduced to Time. "It's so easy!" beamed one sixth-grader who'd struggled with the newspaper's exegesis of the Arab-Israeli peace accords. Told that there was also something called Time for Kids, she replied, "Oh, I know, but nobody reads that. We call it Time for Idiots." Kids can be so cruel. So delightfully, perceptively cruel.

Condensed Quayle: The Art of the Editor Extra

(Below, a tighter version of the former vice president's op-ed piece in Monday's New York Times. Many cuts, no additions, no changes in word order.)

"Kenneth Starr held Antonin Scalia and a derelict. They might be tempted routinely. Fine. High officials should be able to buy their way out of misconduct. How trivial. Let them get off easily without any consequences at all. They are acting in the country's best interest. Departing from the Constitution pays dividends."

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